Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

I'd also have a question to add for beta testers (sorry for using ur thread, just didnt see the need for a new 1). Is IMP DS worth getting anymore? I heard stuff bout not stacking therefore not worth the points.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

The point of the raid buff system was to provide an environment where specific classes don't bring unique buffs. You may not have an ele shammy in your raid, in which case you can get the buff from a disc priest. In addition the shammy buff won't give the raid 80 spirit for mana regen... so your raid can make a subjective decision on what they feel is best.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

i use almost same spec, just i don't put points in silent resolve but in improved sheild, i don't take desprate prayer, i take 3 points in test of faith.

i am still considering: 2 points surge of light VS light well + 1 point surge of light or extra point in holy specialization.
atm i am using lightwell.
i don't use that much flash heal, usualy felt like the surge of light wasn't needed, was nice and cool but wasn't needed and atm i have 1 point in surge of light and 1 point in lightwell.
i find lightwell very usefull. i don't feel a big difference with SoL 1 point and 2 point, but thats a gamestyle i guess. i generally don't use flash heal often.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Lightwell is awesome now, if your group will actually click it. I keep one down near the ranged guys as it is great for cleaning up random AoE damage on bosses. At level 76 with about 1300 spellpower, mine ticks for 1500-1600.

Imp Divine Spirit does not stack and therefore does not warrant the points in my opinion.

Guardian Spirit is nice, but until the cooldown is lowered I will take the big chunk of spirit instead. I believe I saw somewhere that it was going to change to heal for 50% instead of 10% if it prevents a death, nice, but still not worth it at the current 3 min. cooldown.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

If not tank healing most of the time then improved crit might be better and drop the insp.

I disagree.

Holy in 3.0 is not what it was in TBC. There is a lot more crit-based functionality (surge of light, holy concentration, inspiration) that applies to the heals that are the staples of MT healing.

In 3.0, I think that if you are single-target healing, you want to take the talents that maximize your crit and crit-based functionality (particularly for Inspiration).

If you are raid healing, then you want the talents that give you the most for your money for CoH, and crit and holy concentration isn't as big of a deal.

The reality is that in raids priests are often asked to do both roles at different times, so the challenge is to come up with a hybrid spec that allows you to do both roles comfortably ... or to respec for certain boss fights.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by Tenbones

Guardian Spirit is nice, but until the cooldown is lowered I will take the big chunk of spirit instead. I believe I saw somewhere that it was going to change to heal for 50% instead of 10% if it prevents a death, nice, but still not worth it at the current 3 min. cooldown.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by meowmeow

i don't use that much flash heal, usualy felt like the surge of light wasn't needed, was nice and cool but wasn't needed and atm i have 1 point in surge of light and 1 point in lightwell.
i find lightwell very usefull. i don't feel a big difference with SoL 1 point and 2 point, but thats a gamestyle i guess. i generally don't use flash heal often.

I use Flash Heal a lot.

Flash Heal is my direct heal of choice for raid healing on trash pulls. For spotty raid damage taken here and there, it's a fast heal with more efficiency than a couple of CoH spams that may heal only 1 target.

It's also a reasonable resort for raid healing in certain boss fights in which the raid is spread out and during which periodic spotty damage is taken. Akil'zon, the eagle boss in ZA, is an example in which I find Flash Heal to be an excellent choice for raid damage, imo.

GHeal is unmatched for tank healing. And that's where I tend to use it the most. I find it just too slow to be useful for spotty raid damage.

If I know that raid healing is my focus and that the raid is going to be spread out, I think I'd like to have SoL.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Personally, if I were going to take Inspiration and Holy Concentration/Imp HC, I would max out Holy Specialization. If I'm putting a lot of points into crit-based functionality, I would want to maximize the gain from the investment.

In end-game raiding, my healing with Renew is from 2 to 10% of my total. Since Renew adds so little to my style of raid healing, I would probably move my points from Renew to Holy Specialization.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by Gothri

Personally, if I were going to take Inspiration and Holy Concentration/Imp HC, I would max out Holy Specialization. If I'm putting a lot of points into crit-based functionality, I would want to maximize the gain from the investment.

In end-game raiding, my healing with Renew is from 2 to 10% of my total. Since Renew adds so little to my style of raid healing, I would probably move my points from Renew to Holy Specialization.

Gah not sure why my link didnt work but when I clicked on it, it was definately NOT the build I did lol.

Ok here is the actual build that I was talking about (crosses fingers that it will work this time)

Oh and on a side note since I didnt much like losing the spirit buff.. but I think what holy has to offer in wotlk far outweighs spending the points to get imp spirit.
And I am going inscription and will be able to make spirit scrolls that will at least partially give me back what I had. Not nearly what imp spirit brings but still, better then nothing

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Holy in 3.0 is not what it was in TBC. There is a lot more crit-based functionality (surge of light, holy concentration, inspiration) that applies to the heals that are the staples of MT healing.

In 3.0, I think that if you are single-target healing, you want to take the talents that maximize your crit and crit-based functionality (particularly for Inspiration).

If you are raid healing, then you want the talents that give you the most for your money for CoH, and crit and holy concentration isn't as big of a deal.

The reality is that in raids priests are often asked to do both roles at different times, so the challenge is to come up with a hybrid spec that allows you to do both roles comfortably ... or to respec for certain boss fights.

My point was that if you do not REGULARLY heal the tanks, as a playstyle and guild setup decision, then why take inspiration at all? You may as well take the extra crit chance. I would max both if I thought I could justify taking talentpoints from elsewhere....

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by Ntrails

My point was that if you do not REGULARLY heal the tanks, as a playstyle and guild setup decision, then why take inspiration at all? You may as well take the extra crit chance. I would max both if I thought I could justify taking talentpoints from elsewhere....

Yeah, I know where you're coming from.

If you know ahead of time exactly what your precise healing role is going to be, then it's not so hard to come up with PvE specs that are more optimized for single-target (a.k.a. tank) healing or more optimized for raid (a.k.a. AoE) healing.

The reason to take Inspiration at all is two-fold: 1) a 25% armor increase for a tank holding a hard-hitting boss like Brutallus is godly, and 2) druids will no longer be at the armor cap and will now benefit from Inspiration. It doesn't even matter that Inspiration does not stack with the shaman's Ancestral Fortitude buff. The more either buff is on the tank, the better. Inspiration is valuable only for tank healing, really. If you knew ahead of time that all you were going to do was raid heal, then you'd opt out of it.

Our guild switches things up for priests as a matter of course. On the trash pulls up to Kalecgos, the priests are on the raid. On Kalecgos and Brutallus a priest is likely to get a main tank assignment. This is fine, because the raid is spread out for both bosses anyway, and our AoE heal would suck in that environment. But the point is that you're healing tanks, and Inspiration is highly valuable in this role.

As I see it there are three options for when you get to Kalecgos, using this scenario as an example: 1) you could go in with a single-target optimized spec, having concluded that the boss fight is the most important encounter; 2) you could go in with an AoE spec and then respec once you get to Kalecgos (and then respec back again once you get to Felmyst); or 3) you could try to use a hybrid spec that would enable you to do both roles adequately, if not optimally.

Option 3 is what I've tried to do historically. In this case, I would conclude that Inspiration is godly for tank healing, and I would prioritize points for that talent, and the talents that make it work better.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by Gothri

Option 3 is what I've tried to do historically. In this case, I would conclude that Inspiration is godly for tank healing, and I would prioritize points for that talent, and the talents that make it work better.

Re: Example of Holy Priest Specs from Beta Players?

Originally Posted by Gothri

I use Flash Heal a lot.

Flash Heal is my direct heal of choice for raid healing on trash pulls. For spotty raid damage taken here and there, it's a fast heal with more efficiency than a couple of CoH spams that may heal only 1 target.

It's also a reasonable resort for raid healing in certain boss fights in which the raid is spread out and during which periodic spotty damage is taken. Akil'zon, the eagle boss in ZA, is an example in which I find Flash Heal to be an excellent choice for raid damage, imo.

GHeal is unmatched for tank healing. And that's where I tend to use it the most. I find it just too slow to be useful for spotty raid damage.

If I know that raid healing is my focus and that the raid is going to be spread out, I think I'd like to have SoL.

here is a really funny thing about this thread. was asked about ppl that play on beta not in ZA.
as i said on my post: from my experiance on BETA 10m raids (4) and 1 raid of 25 m.
so thanks for updating us on your za experiance with flash heal. to my experiance (on live and on beta) flash heal isn't that needed. SoL procing alot made me feel like "i'm missing it" or "wasted the buff". therefore i decided to try taking 1 point there. to my gamestyle i don't feel a huge difference between 1 point to 2.
about ispiration - this is a talent i always take. as a holy priest, especially one that doesn't have divine spirit or improved (like me now) should be able to offer raid utility in healing. i can either heal raid, or focus on tanks. in either way i do it all, i am the priest. if a holy paladin's "strengh" in healing tanks is high HPS due to their 2 sec holy light (talented ofc), my strengh as a holy priest MT healer besides being able to crit for 12k, is the ispiration buff (i guess discipline will be absording damage). ofc depending on which encounter i go, who heals what etc. in either way - a tank is something that as a priest i always heal - even when i'm supposed to heal "raid" i still heal the tank he is part of the raid after all (on my frames anyway). additional armor - to any tank, is always good. i assume if i played in a guild where there was never a need for me to heal a tank (that would be weird) i wouldn't take it.

Ofc playing atm on beta without silent resolve, but with improved sheild (must have meditation). i am full holy with gaurdian spirit (it has wings and i crit for 30k the other day "yey"). i have already said my specc afew posts above. (1/2 point SoL, 1/1 point lightwell, no desprate prayer, no healing prayers, no silent resolve. atm i have 2/2 holy reach and 3/5 holy specialization, from what i see now i might take 5/5 holy specialization and no points at holy reach. and please i'm talking about beta not za, kara etc.)